Limmud FSU expanding to Australia, Canada

June 16, 2014 4:37pm

(JTA) — Limmud FSU, a Jewish educational conference aimed at Jews from the former Soviet Union, is expanding to Australia and Canada.

The organization will hold conferences to serve the sizable Russian-speaking Jewish communities in the two countries in October in Canada and in March in Australia, according to a statement issued Monday.

The expansion will be funded in large part by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, a non-profit that raises money primarily from evangelical Christians to support Jewish activities around the world, according to the statement.

Russian-speaking Jews comprise nearly 25 percent of the 120,000 Jews living in Australia. It is estimated that between 60,000 and 70,000 Russian Jews live in Canada. Of those, 70 percent live in the greater Toronto area, according to Limmud.

Limmud FSU has held events in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Israel and the United States.

The expansion announcement was made over the weekend in Jerusalem at a Limmud FSU Global Leadership Summit.